Partners in crime-fighting
by tsillaa
Summary: Lizzie Bennet is an investigative superheroine in modern Britain. She's less than happy when she's assigned a partner on a rather peculiar case...


It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a superhero in possession of good abilities, must be in want of a partner.

Lizzie Bennet, our super-heroine, whose main ability was knowing someone's true character at first glance, worked alongside her two sidekicks, Jane and Charlotte, to defeat the evilest of evils on a daily basis.

Lady Katherine de Bourgh was a wealthy woman, whose pride and snobbery knew no bounds. She had power over many important people, and she was used to getting her way. Her main goal in life was to force everyone to agree with her, no matter how irrational.

She had a daughter, who unfortunately lacked all the abilities that could have made her even remotely similar to her ladyship. This daughter had no strong will, no ambition, no ability to influence others, no particularly good looks and not even a hint of volition to follow in her mother's footsteps.

That, however, was clearly out of her control, because Lady Katherine de Bourgh had been plotting to somehow make her daughter stand out, to be the best in at least one area. As she had no control over matters of character, she had resigned to make her daughter the prettiest of them all. And she wasn't going to get her way by changing anything about her precious daughter – no, she had to manipulate people by all means necessary.

Nobody was aware of these plans, of course, so naturally, when women started randomly disappearing, nobody suspected that Lady Katherine might have had something to do with it.

Lizzie was looking into the disappearances, trying to follow up on every lead she could find.

"I don't understand" she said with an exasperated sigh. "What's the connection?"

She was sitting in front of a table with Jane and Charlotte, looking at photos and details about all the cases. All the missing people were females, but that was not much to go on.

"No idea…" Jane replied. "It seems totally random. They aren't from the same area, they're from different financial situations, and they don't seem to have anything in common."

"Maybe that's the point. Maybe the fact that they're totally random is the key." Charlotte pitched in.

"Yeah, maybe…" said Lizzie, not convinced. "Either way, we're not going to be able to figure this out tonight, so I think we should just call it a night. I'll go down to the police department tomorrow to follow up on the latest disappearance."

They'd been spending hours and hours every day to try and solve the mystery, but they felt like they weren't any closer than when they'd started.

The following day Lizzie woke up feeling optimistic, and she hoped that was a sign of impending success.

On her way to the police department she stopped to get coffee for everyone. Being an investigative super-heroine involved quite a lot of looking through police reports and such, so she grew quite fond of the policemen she worked with.

When she stepped through the door, she was greeted by the familiar sounds of phones ringing, papers rustling and people talking. She handed everyone their coffees, and was about to start talking business when the front door opened again and a young man walked in.

"Sorry I'm late" he said cheerfully, without actually showing the least bit of regret for being late.

"I will forgive you this one time, only because it's your first day, but I'd like you to be on time from now on" said the head of the department, an older man with a considerable moustache, who went by the name of Mr. Forster.

"I'll try my best" the young man replied, then looked around the room. His eyes lingered on Lizzie for a moment, and then he stepped in front of her.

"I don't believe I've had the pleasure" he said charmingly, extending his hand. "My name is George Wickham."

"Lizzie Bennet" she replied and shook his hand.

They started chatting and seemed to be enjoying themselves, when they were interrupted by a cough coming from the general direction of the front door. Apparently, someone had walked in while they were talking.

"Ah, you must be Mr. Darcy!" said Mr. Forster while walking toward the man to greet him. "We have been expecting you" he continued while shaking his hand eagerly.

"Thank you" was all Mr. Darcy said, followed by a small nod. He didn't seem to be the talkative type.

"Miss Bennet, let me introduce you to Mr. William Darcy" said Mr. Forster, turning to Lizzie. "He has a superpower, just like you, and he's going to help you crack this nasty case."

Lizzie quickly turned her head towards Mr. Forster, and, forgetting her manners, said: "I don't need his help!" She already found the man quite displeasing, and her pride was hurt by the mere presumption that she might need help solving the case.

"Now, Lizzie…" Mr. Forster started defensively. "The situation is out of hand and we need all the help we can get. I beg you, please try to work together. Mr. Darcy is good at what he does. He's already up to date about the case, so you won't have to explain anything to him. Just give it a chance." His voice was pleading, so Lizzie finally gave in.

"Alright, alright! But if it doesn't work out, he's got to go."

Mr. Darcy, who'd been quiet so far, turned to Lizzie. "If it would be at all possible, I'd like to sit down with you and share my insights."

Lizzie found his manners way too polite, and could hardly stop herself from mocking him. "I cannot wait to hear your insights, Mr. Darcy" she replied, trying her best not to sound sarcastic.

They walked into the interrogation room, because it was the only separated area within the department. They sat down opposite from each other, ready to work.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush, Miss Bennet. I have reason to strongly suspect that Lady Katherine de Bourgh is behind the disappearings. While your investigation was thorough in some aspects, it was lacking in others. I made the connections you'd failed to make and that is how I reached my conclusion. I do not blame you for overlooking certain details, I realize that my success was merely due to the fact that I could look at the case with a fresh pair of eyes after you so dutifully collected and put together all the relevant data."

He said all this in a very polite and sincere manner, and Lizzie was quite speechless for a few moments, partly because she was trying to take in all the things Mr. Darcy had just said, and partly because she wasn't sure whether she should get offended or not.

"What exactly…" she started cautiously, "…would Lady Katherine de Bourgh want to do with a bunch of women?"

"It's not so much about what she wants to do with them, but rather about what she doesn't want them to do."

"I'm afraid you'll have to elaborate on that, Mr. Darcy" Lizzie replied, annoyed that she didn't quite get the picture yet.

"What I mean is, she's not _collecting _these women, she's merely _getting rid_ of them, so to speak." When he saw that recognition still hadn't quite hit Lizzie, he continued: "Lady Katherine de Bourgh has a daughter with questionable beauty, so she's eliminating all competition. She wants her daughter to be the 'fairest of them all', if you will."

"So, what you're saying is, Lady Katherine plans to just keep kidnapping women until only the ugly ones are left?!" Lizzie was a little sceptical, but it was starting to dawn on her that there really was no unattractive female among the victims.

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying" said Mr. Darcy in a satisfied tone.

"May I ask, how did you manage to put all this together?" Lizzie found it a little suspicious that this man had just waltzed in here and claimed he'd solved the whole thing.

"I would hate to bore you with the details of my thought process, Miss Bennet. Let's just say this is _my_ superpower. The bigger question is, how can we prove that she's guilty?"

"Oh, so your _expertise_ only goes so far?" she said mockingly. "I must wonder, Mr. Darcy, how exactly does your superpower work?"

"Well," he hesitated for a second. "Imagine a jigsaw puzzle. When you take all the pieces and just scatter them on the table, a normal person would not be able to tell you what the picture is going to be once it's put together. But, given that _all_ the pieces are there, I would."

Lizzie took a moment to make sure she understood him correctly, then gave him a sceptical look. "That doesn't sound like a real thing" she noted.

"The credibility of my powers is not really the main issue" Mr. Darcy retorted. He stood up to leave, deeming the conversation over.

"I think we should reconvene tomorrow. Until then, we can pursue the clues in our own ways. Or, if you prefer, we could work together on that too" he raised his eyebrows, expecting an answer.

"Oh no, that's not necessary. See you tomorrow" Lizzie replied quickly, and she stood up as well.

"It's been a pleasure" said Mr. Darcy, extending his hand. Lizzie reluctantly shook it and said goodbye with a courteous nod.

They left the room and Mr. Darcy turned toward Mr. Forster's desk to fill him in on the news. Lizzie left the police station and was just about to turn the corner when Mr. Wickham caught up to her.

"Weird sort of fellow, isn't he?" he said, referring, without a doubt, to Mr. Darcy. "He's always been like that."

They started walking together.

"Oh, so you've met him before?" Lizzie asked, surprised.

"Yes, I've had the misfortune of having to work with him a few times. When I was relocated here I was hoping I'd be rid of him for good." He seemed sincerely irritated by this unfortunate turn of events.

"I get the feeling you don't like him very much."

"That would be an understatement. He constantly seems like he's hiding something. He comes across as a shady sort of fellow, know what I mean?"

Lizzie knew exactly what he meant. She could sense the exact same thing. She did not trust Mr. Darcy.

"It seems awfully convenient that he just _happened_ _to_ basically solve the case. Nobody's that good." She was talking more to herself than anyone else, but Wickham was ready to discuss the matter.

"What do you mean he solved the case?" he asked tentatively.

"He basically just showed up and told me right away who's to blame for the disappearances."

"That's odd" Wickham offered. "For all you know, he might be in on the whole thing. Maybe he's trying to lead you astray, trying to stir you in the wrong direction."

"Maybe…" said Lizzie thoughtfully.

After a while the conversation turned to more enjoyable topics, such as favourite films, good books and dear childhood pets. In what seemed like no time at all they reached Lizzie's home, where they said goodbye. Lizzie went upstairs and Mr. Wickham walked back to the police station.

After informing Jane and Charlotte about the developments on the case, she sat down in front of her computer to find some dirt on Mr. Darcy. She was hoping to find something that would confirm her theory of him being a "bad guy". Unfortunately the man seemed absolutely respectable even after a whole afternoon of web searches and the like, but Lizzie still wasn't quite convinced. Her instinct told her not to trust Mr. Darcy.

"Well, that's another day wasted…" she said to herself while closing her laptop after deciding to go to bed.

The next morning she didn't really feel like getting up. She wasn't particularly afraid of Mr. Darcy, however evil or dangerous he might potentially be, but she was awfully annoyed at the thought of having to discuss the case with him and pretending to believe the things he said.

After about a half an hour of internal struggles she finally climbed out of bed. She was usually the first to get up, but this time both Jane and Charlotte had been there when she stepped into the kitchen to have her morning coffee.

"Any plans for the day?" Jane asked Lizzie while sipping her tea.

"Yeah, I have to _reconvene_ with Mr. Darcy" she said, imitating his pompous speaking style. "I guess we need to find a way to prove Lady Katherine's guilt – although I'm still quite reluctant to believe she had anything to do with this… The whole thing just seems so far-fetched!"

"I agree, but maybe working with him will give you an opportunity to uncover some stuff about him. After all, your superpower is never wrong, so there must be something he's hiding" said Charlotte knowingly.

"You're probably right" Lizzie replied.

She quickly drank her coffee, got dressed, said "bye" to the girls and stepped outside.

Then everything went dark.

She came to after what felt like a few hours, but actually she had no idea how much time had passed. She sat up to take in her surroundings, but she quickly realised she could not see much.

It was almost pitch black, the only source of light was coming from a tiny light-bulb on the ceiling, but it was very dim. She waited until her eyes got used to the darkness, then looked around.

There were a few other girls quietly sitting or lying on the floor of what seemed to be some sort of a storage room, with lots of empty shelves along the walls. She noticed the door behind her and stood up right away to try to open it, but no matter how hard she tried, it was no use.

"Figures…" she sighed, then turned to the girl closest to her. "What even is this place?"

"I wish I knew" the girl replied in a weak voice. "They didn't exactly give us a briefing."

"How long have you been here?" Lizzie asked, ignoring the sarcastic remark. Her brain was working really hard, trying to make sense of everything and finding a way out. She quickly counted the girls in the room; there were five, including herself. Best case scenario: there are similar rooms with similar numbers of girls just sitting around, waiting for rescue. Worst case scenario: the others had been "taken care of". She was really hoping for the former.

"Not sure, maybe a few days" the girl answered. "There's no point in trying to open that door, you know, we've already tried that like a billion times."

While that seemed logical, Lizzie was reluctant to give up, but eventually she did. She sat back down, with her back against a wall, closed her eyes and started thinking.

About fifteen minutes had passed when she arrived at the conclusion that it must have been Mr. Darcy's doing – he must have wanted to get rid of her, to prevent her from finding out his secrets.

But that wasn't the most burning issue. Knowing who's behind kidnapping her was in no way going to help her escape. She needed a plan.

She stood up again and started circling the room, looking for other ways out – a hidden window, a trap door, anything – but to no avail.

Suddenly the door opened, and a tall, heavy-looking person appeared in front of it. His face was hardly visible – due to the backlight from the corridor, the girls could only see his dark silhouette.

When he walked inside, the dim light of the room illuminated his face enough for Lizzie to observe his greasy hair and rat-like face.

"And who might you be?" Lizzie asked, while considering whether she would be able to just kick the guy in the crotch and run away.

"Not that it's any of your business," he said in an arrogant tone "but my name is Mr. Collins." He stood up straight and looked at Lizzie as if he was expecting her to be impressed.

"So, what's all this about? Why are you keeping a bunch of girls in the basement?" Lizzie asked.

"Do you really think I'm stupid enough to tell you that?!" he almost sounded insulted.

"Well…" Lizzie said, hardly able to keep herself from laughing out loud – she found the man's manners utterly ridiculous (but completely in accordance with his appearance). "Never mind. I didn't actually think you knew anything. You're probably just some sort of guard or servant, not even in on the master plan…" she was hoping he would take the bait.

"I'll have you know that Lady Katherine de Bourgh trusts me with _all_ her secrets, I'm her most useful and loyal associate" he boasted, not even realising his mistake.

Not that he'd have had time for that, because at that moment he fell over, having been knocked unconscious by something. A few seconds later it became clear: he had been hit on the head by another dark silhouette.

"Mr. Darcy!" Lizzie exclaimed when she recognised him. "How the… What the…" she couldn't quite put her surprise into words.

"Nice to see you too, Miss Bennet. You appear to have gotten yourself into some trouble. I thought you might need a hand." He helped up all the other girls and asked each of them if they were alright. "Police officers are waiting outside to take your statements and escort you all home" he told them.

"I don't understand" Lizzie said when she managed to compose herself. "I thought you were the bad guy."

"Well, I hope my saving you will convince you otherwise" he replied.

"But…" she tried to put her thoughts into words. "My superpower… I… I'm supposed to know people's true character. I'm never wrong" she said firmly.

"Yes, well, that appears to be Mr. Wickham's fault. He has a most annoying superpower of being able to mess with other people's abilities. He must have managed to cloud your judgement both about him and myself" Mr. Darcy explained patiently.

"But why?" Lizzie asked, incredulous.

"He was working with Lady Katherine de Bourgh. He was the one that knocked you out and kidnapped you, actually."

"So it really was Lady Katherine? Behind the disappearances? You were right?!"

"You sound surprised" Mr. Darcy noted, his pride wounded. "But yes, I was one hundred percent correct."

"I must say, Mr. Darcy, I'm quite impressed" said Lizzie earnestly. She could feel herself trusting him more and more – which could only mean that Mr. Wickham was no longer affecting her judgement.

"So, what do you think, would you be interested in working together on future cases?"

"Most definitely."


End file.
